§7.52.1Postero die Caesar contione advocata temeritatem cupiditatemque militum reprehendit, quod sibi ipsi iudicavissent quo procedendum aut quid agendum videretur, neque signo recipiendi dato constitissent neque ab tribunis militum legatisque retineri potuissent.
On the following day, Caesar, having called an assembly, censured the rashness and eagerness of the soldiers, because they had judged for themselves where they should advance or what they should do, and had not halted when the signal for retreat was given, nor could they be held back by the military tribunes and lieutenants.
§7.52.2Exposuit quid iniquitas loci posset, quid ipse ad Avaricum sensisset, cum sine duce et sine equitatu deprehensis hostibus exploratam victoriam dimisisset, ne parvum modo detrimentum in contentione propter iniquitatem loci accideret.
He explained what the disadvantage of the ground could effect, and what he himself had felt at Avaricum, when, having caught the enemy without a leader and without cavalry, he had given up a certain victory, lest even a small loss should occur in the struggle on account of the disadvantage of the ground.
§7.52.3Quanto opere eorum animi magnitudinem admiraretur, quos non castrorum munitiones, non altitudo montis, non murus oppidi tardare potuisset, tanto opere licentiam arrogantiamque reprehendere, quod plus se quam imperatorem de victoria atque exitu rerum sentire existimarent; §7.52.4nec minus se ab milite modestiam et continentiam quam virtutem atque animi magnitudinem desiderare.
He said that, as much as he admired the greatness of their courage, whom neither the fortifications of the camp, nor the height of the mountain, nor the wall of the town had been able to retard, so much did he censure their license and presumption, because they thought that they understood more than their general about victory and the issue of events; and that he required of a soldier no less modesty and self-restraint than valor and greatness of soul.